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dramatically."
Regardless of their size, 4K resolution monitor displays deliver an extremely high contrast ratio. Companies say this will aid surgeons by providing the ability to project truer levels of black, something that is critical to medical image quality for surgical and diagnostic applications.
A laparoscopic camera is about the size of a fist. The cameras Dr. Palter has used in his 4K procedures are considerably larger: "what you would see on a Hollywood set — 15-pound cameras that are a foot long."
Companies are moving quickly to bring 4K to the OR. Stryker Endoscopy is working on a 4K turnkey visualization "platform" that includes the camera head that houses the 4K sensors, the camera processing unit (console), the cabling and the monitor. Sony and Olympus have teamed up to develop endoscopes equipped with 3D and 4K technology. Sony's 3D imagery and 4K display technology will come aboard the endoscopes and other surgical tools manufactured by Olympus. Sony demonstrated the company's new 4K display technology as a work-in-progress technology preview for the medical industry at the recent American College of Surgeons Annual Clinical Congress.
If picture quality "unlike anything you've ever seen before" is more than you need, companies continue to advance and refine HD. EIZO and Stryker have announced their partnership to offer customers integrated large monitor management systems suitable for use in standard and hybrid operating rooms. As a result of this partnership, EIZO will provide large monitors that can display multiple video sources simultaneously in conjunction with Stryker integrated operating suites.
'Always another genration coming'
Could 4K ultra HD further revolutionize minimally invasive surgery as surgical facilities incorporate it into the OR of the future? "This is the inevitable leap of progress in technology, in endoscopy," says Dr. Palter. "There's always another generation coming." OSM
